Lessons in Texas hold'em (Limit) Poker

Everybody knows you need to have good starting hands to be successful but that is far from the end of the story - there are many other important points that need to be addressed.

In the following articles I will concentrate on small stake limit hold'em cash games both live and online. The Home Game: Johnny Moss once said he'd bet his own grandmother in a hand and that is where the problem lies. For some money brings out the worst in people. I think home games have their place when played for friendly stakes or for small buy in tournaments, but as soon as the stakes go up sometimes friendships go out the door. I've heard from several of my friends who've played at a boys poker night (small fee tournaments) then going to cash limit, finally moving to No Limit cash all fuelled by Jack Daniels most of the time. It all finished fine but on a few occasions friendships were tested. If you are going to play at home make sure you play for fun or small money.

Moving on to my forte, Texas hold'em Online Poker. What a great concept - any day, anytime you can find a game waiting for you for any stakes you please. Want to play a sit and go tournament for $5, sure no problem. Want to play $300/$600 with the best in the world then yes it's out there. In order to win the most you need to select the correct game to sit down in. As I said these articles are for the small stake Texas hold'em Limit player, so any statistics I produce have that in mind. I say small stakes which I take to mean $0.5/$1 tables up to $5/$10.

Log on to your online poker site and arrive in the lobby. Order the tables by stake and scroll down. You see 5 tables that are ten handed and you decide to go on the waiting list. Do you wait for the next available seat? That depends if all of the tables have average pots of 7 Big Bets (a big bet is the value of the large blind) then it doesn't matter which one you wait for. If all but one table have less than 5 big bets and there is nobody in the queue for the table with more than 5 big bets then it is worth waiting for that one. Why do I put emphasis on average pot size? Well the bigger the pot the more you stand to win when you win a pot. The tables that have 5 big bets or less are probably full of "Rocks" (tight players) and you will not be able to extract the maximum value for your hand, or they will fold to any aggressive play you show them. Therefore your earn per hour will decrease on these tables. Go for other tables with the highest Big bet per pot average.

Another way you can see which table to choose is to look at the statistic "average seen flop". This is the percentage of players that have seen the flop per hand. Some online poker sites display this in the lobby. If you are playing small stakes Limit Texas hold'em, any table average with 35% or higher should have your mouth watering. Some poker sites allow you to maintain a buddy list. I highly encourage you to do this. Say you were playing $2/$4 Texas hold'em and a player on your table is constantly calling down cold calling pre-flop and showing down things like 6 of clubs 4 of spades from early position they need to be added to your buddy list. When you next log on you can check your list and see if they are playing. Even if he is playing higher, it may well be worth moving up to take his money, especially if you can sit to his left and make isolation raises to get him heads up with you, but I digress into poker statistics which we will get onto in due time. So today I've just brushed the surface into how to maximise your earn starting with game selection.

Lesson 2 - Table Selection

This article is focussed on Texas hold'em Poker in the Limit variant and the selection of tables before you begin to play.

The next thing we need to discuss is table selection. We will address the questions that you need to ask yourself before you sit down at a particular table. When do you want to play? If like most people you have a job working 9-5 then your looking at evenings and weekends. Perfect! That is when most recreational players are at the poker tables. You don't want to be playing in the day because that is when the professionals put in some of their hours and also a lot of retired folks who want to scratch out some pin money.

Your average retired player who is 65 year plus will be a rock - peddling the nuts and playing tight. You can't make much money if at all from these guys. Interestingly stereotypes in this day and age are not considered to be politically correct, but in poker if you want to save/win money, it's a good place to start and your view can always be changed. We will be writing more on psychology and player profiling another day.

It's decided then we are going to play on Saturday night - the busiest night of the week, guaranteed action. We walk in for the first time and hear that beautiful sound. The sound of riffling chips. Action is everywhere but where to sit? If it's your first time you want to sit at the lowest limit available. Usually it's $2/$4 limit hold'em. There will be a few tables running so you need to know what to look for in picking a good table. You should judge a table by two yardsticks:

1) How loose/tight is the game? 2) How aggressive/passive is the game?

Referring to one above, you want to play in loose games because your opponents are playing more weak hands to get to see more flops and get lucky. The more mistakes your opponents make the more you will win. On the second point playing in an aggressive or passive game is a little trickier. My preference is aggressive games that are loose. The wilder the better. Sure my variance will swing with stomach churning ups and downs but inevitably my hand selection abilities will see me through and I will see payoff big time when my hands stand up at showdown. For most beginners I would recommend start in a passive game where your mistakes will not be punished so badly and your opponents will not extract the maximum from you.

So get a feel for the place - watch a few tables in the limit you are interested in playing. Want to play at a passive table? Watch for a lot of "calling stations" people calling all the time with not much raising going on and it feels like a relaxed friendly table. If you want aggression and looseness look for people four way capping preflop, a high chip average for the table, and lots of chips in play. If you are prepared to play tight and only premium starting hands be prepared for a roller coaster ride and strap yourself in because this is the table for you.

You find a ten-handed game and decide to chip up. How much to buy in? I always like to buy in for double the usual amount. This is for two reasons:

1) If you take a couple of bad beats to begin with the you usually have enough to carry on. There is nothing worse for your ego and confidence than to have to chip up again early on. Plus if you are short stacked and get heads up (two players left including you) with the nuts (best hand) and there is no cap on betting then you won't make as much. 2) When other people join the table later and they see your large stack they will give you more respect, hopefully so you can run more bluffs and appear a much stronger player than if you had less chips.

Lesson 3 - Seat selection

This article is focussed on Texas hold'em Poker in the Limit variant and the selection of seat you make both before you begin and shortly thereafter.

Do you like your seat? Do you want to change it - indeed would you know that you need to change it? This all depends on what type of players are around you at the table. After a few hands you get to know who is not playing many hands, who is in every pot, who is raising and who is calling. Here are some guidelines on selecting or moving seats in Texas hold'em (Limit) Poker.

Who are the players to your right that will act before you? You want two types.

1) A loose player 2) Aggressive players.

This is because when they act before you it will provide you with information on how your hand will play. For example, if loose players call that goes a long way to helping you decide whether your suited connector hand will have the correct odds to see the flop. If an aggressive player raises you first then chances are the odds are not there to cold call. Now, reverse the situation and act before these guys. You are dealt 78 hearts a great hand to make money in a multi-way pot, but you are not sure that you will get called so you fold. Sure enough the loose players call but you didn't know that because they were acting after you. Also imagine you have the same hand and you decided to risk calling only to be raised by an aggressive player to your right, everyone else folds leaving you to call one more bet to see the flop playing heads up out of position with an aggressive player. This is not a pretty picture.

Its good to have a passive player to your left. This is because they don't raise much, call a lot, and seldom bet. A calling station will not give you many problems and you will not gain much valuable information from them. Keep tight players on your left also, these players seldom play money hands so you won't be in many pots with them. They are also great to have on your left because if its folded round to you in late position it's great to raise them and steal their blinds.

About the Author

Gabriel James is a semi-professional poker player turning over 12,000 hands of Texas hold'em Limit Poker per month online. He is writing on behalf of www.texashold-empoker.com